Kharāj

Kharāj, a special Islāmic fiscal imposition that was demanded from recent converts to Islām in the 7th and 8th centuries.

The origin of the concept of the kharāj is closely linked to changes in the status of non-Muslims and of recent converts to Islām in newly conquered Islāmic territories. The indigenous Jewish, Christian, or Zoroastrian populations of these territories were permitted either to convert to Islām or to maintain their previous religious affiliations. Those individuals who preferred not to convert were required to pay a special tribute, usually in the form of a poll tax or head tax known as the jizyah. But those who chose to convert, in theory, would be placed on an equal fiscal footing with other Muslims.

Under Islāmic law, only original Muslims or converts to Islām could own land. Thus, there was incentive for non-Muslim cultivators to convert to Islām so that they could maintain their agricultural holdings. Upon conversion, the cultivators were required to pay the ʿushr (or tithe), a tax equivalent to one-tenth of their produce. In theory these converts were exempt from other taxes on their lands. But the Umayyad caliphs (reigned 661–750), faced with increasing financial problems, imposed a kind of kharāj on the land of recent converts in addition to their payment of ʿushr. This extra imposition of the kharāj was unpopular, and many converts felt that it violated the egalitarian principles of Islām.

In Khorāsān, the northeastern province of Iran, the collection of the kharāj was one of the grievances that led to Abū Muslim’s revolt in 747, which precipitated the downfall of the Umayyad caliphate. During the early years of the succeeding ʿAbbāsid caliphate, the collection of the kharāj fell into disuse.